Summary: The Hippocampus and Pavlovian Fear Conditioning:
Reply to Bast et al.
Stephan G. Anagnostaras,1
Greg D. Gale,2
and Michael S. Fanselow2
1
Department of Psychology and Center for Behavioral
Neuroscience, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
2
Department of Psychology and Brain Research Institute,
University of California, Los Angeles, California
In a recent article that appeared in Hippocampus, we reviewed findings
supporting a mnemonic role for the dorsal hippocampus (DH) in Pavlovian
(contextual and tone) fear conditioning (Anagnostaras et al., 2001). We also
detailed a view that has emerged over the years from this work that suggests
that the hippocampus plays a highly selective role in the acquisition and
temporary storage of contextual representations, as opposed to a role in
conditional stimulus­unconditional stimulus (CS­US) associations or in
permanent storage for which the amygdala has been heavily implicated (Kim
and Fanselow, 1992; Phillips and LeDoux, 1992; Young et al., 1994; Maren